Musk Slams the US SEC for Forcing a Tesla Tweet Settlement

Musk, the world's wealthiest person according to Forbes, said that money to take his electric vehicle firm private had been secured at the time he sent his tweets, but the agency "continued to pursue the active public probe."

"As a result, I was compelled to make an illegal admission to the SEC. Those cretins, "Musk explained to the crowd.

Musk said that he felt compelled to deal with the SEC because banks threatened to withhold financing if he did not, thus bankrupting Tesla.

"That's equivalent to holding a pistol to your child's head," Musk said.

"I was obliged to accept that I lied just to preserve Tesla's life," Musk continued.

Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million in civil penalties – and Musk resigned as chairman of Tesla – to address SEC allegations that Musk deceived investors on Aug. 7, 2018, by tweeting that he had "funding secured" to take the business private. At the time, the SEC said that his financing tweets "lacked an acceptable factual foundation."

Musk was also compelled by a similar consent agreement to get pre-approval from Tesla attorneys for tweets and other public remarks that might be significant to Tesla.

On Thursday, the SEC's representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Musk turned down an offer to join Twitter's board of directors last Saturday after revealing his existing ownership of more than 9%. He was supposed to report that he had a position in Twitter greater than 5% and is anticipated to face regulatory scrutiny for missing a deadline to reveal the holding and completing the incorrect form, securities experts said.

Musk said while initiating his takeover attempt for Twitter that he made the offer because he feels "it is critical for there to be an inclusive field for free expression." Musk said that he thinks Twitter's algorithm should be open-source and that the code should be accessible through Github, a Microsoft-owned site for sharing software development code.

When asked whether he has the funding necessary to complete the transaction, Musk stated: "I own adequate resources. I'm willing to do so if feasible." He provided no other information.